BC, Umaine win in Hockey East

BOSTON – A pair of old friends are set to meet tonight at TD Garden for the 2010 Hockey East Tournament championship.Second seeded Boston College used a commanding effort for 60 minutes to knock out Vermont, 3-0 while surprising Maine continued its stellar postseason run with a 3-1 lead over defending champion Boston University late in the third. Lynnfield’s Brian Flynn had a power play goal for the Black Bears.The two schools have combined to play in 27 finals, but surprisingly haven’t played each other for the Lamoriello Trophy since 2000 when Maine’s Niko Dimitrakos scored late in the regulation to give the Black Bears a 2-1 win.The Eagles (24-10-3) came out and got the Catamounts back on their heels from the outset, holding a 15-8 shots on goal advantage in the opening 20 minutes. But UVM goalie Rob Madore was brilliant in keeping the game scoreless until the late moments of the first when the Eagles broke the ice.Defenseman Carl Sneep fired a shot that was stopped. Jimmy Hayes fanned on the rebound attempt, but the puck went right to freshman forward Chris Kreider and the former Masconomet star and top round draft choice of the New York Rangers whistled a wrist shot over the glove of Madore for a 1-0 lead after one.”I thought that we played very well during most of the game,” BC coach Jerry York said. “Madore was excellent early too keep it 1-0.”BC kept coming in the second as the Catamounts struggled to keep the pace in their bid to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive. The Eagles failed to convert on an early second period power play and then came within millimeters of making it a two goal game when Ben Smith’s shot rang off the inside of the right post.Vermont gained life midway through the period and pushed to get the game tied but John Muse made several critical saves, including three point blank chances on a UVM power play late in the second.Muse’s biggest save of the night though came in the final minute of the period when he stoned Colin Vock on a breakaway. Seconds later, defenseman Philip Samuelsson cut to the slot and hit Ben Smith with a pass for a one-timer past Madore with 7.9 seconds left.”We played a good 19:53 in the second period and made a really bad decision off a faceoff play,” Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon said. “Good teams capitalize on those mistakes and BC is a good team.”The Eagles applied the knockout punch early in the third as Kreider flashed his World Junior Championship gold medal talents with a nifty blind between the legs pass to Jimmy Hayes to give BC a 3-0 lead.From there, the BC defense put on the clamps to seriously damage Vermont’s tournament hopes.”We needed to be perfect and have one of our best games of the year,” Sneddon said. “And we didn’t.”UThe Black Bears controlled much of the play in the first period, testing BU netminder Kieran Millan severely several times. Flynn would have the best of these chances midway through the first when he charged down the left wing and got off a good shot that was gloved by Millan.Maine also failed to convert on four straight minutes of power play time as the game stayed scoreless until third line winger Joey Diamond picked up a loose puck off a faceoff, avoided a Millan poke check attempt and backhanded a shot into the vacated net at 14:14.Late in the first, BU’s penalty problems cost them again as Flynn’s shot from the left point deflected off a Terrier defenseman and past Millan for a 2-0 lead after one.Sophomore forward Brian Flynn”It’s a great experience to be able to come down here and play. It’s something you look forward to knowing you watched so many games here growing up. So it was cool to be able to wheel around in practice on Thursday and see how big it actually is.”Maine continued the onslaught at the start of the second as Robby Dee gave them a 3-0 lead with a beautiful individual effort that he capped with a roof shot past Millan. Kevin Shattenkirk’s 4-on-4 goal got BU on the board early in the third.